Death Conscience
by SanquisSerpent
Summary: When Gabrielle starts to have curious fits and seizures, Aphrodite and Xena take her to the Goddess of Dreams. There Xena must save Gabrielle from her guilty conscience by entering into the bard's mind and defeating the evil before Gabrielle dies.
1. Chapter 1: Into The Mind

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement intended. **

**A/N: This story takes place after Season 4's A Family Affair, and contains spoilers from Season 3. As always, please read and review NO FLAMES! Also, this story contains heavy gore so if you don't like that kind of good stuff DON'T READ!!!! It's as simple as that. **

_Xena! No! I'm not gonna let you die! There's no way I'm going to let you leave me again!_

"Gabrielle! Are you okay?" Xena asked shockingly as she fiercely shook her bard by her sweating arms.

All that escaped Gabrielle's lips was a soft moan. It was clear that she needed a doctor. "Everything is going to be okay Gabrielle, I promise. I won't let you die."

_I have to take her to the shaman doctor. He is the only one I know who can heal you when you are in this state of being._

The hours grew longer and the path harder as Xena trudged through snow, rain, and wind for her friend. After five long days of hiking, Xena sat up camp. "We are almost there Gabrielle. You are going to be fine."

_You lied to me Gabrielle. Now Solan, my only son, is dead, and his blood is on your hands._

Gabrielle shook violently as a small crack sounded in the air. "Aphrodite, what are you doing here?" Xena snarled protectively at the Goddess of Love as she drew her sword.

"Wait Xena, I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm just worried about Gabrielle, and I thought I could help." Aphrodite walked over to Gabrielle and placed her hand on the bard's sweaty head. All of a sudden, a golden light shone everywhere. "This is bad. Gabrielle is in a nightmare world, and every nightmare that comes she gets closer to death. The only way for her to live is for you visit the Goddess of Dreams and get her to take you into Gabrielle's nightmares. There you must defeat the evil within. Do you wish to except the challenge? If so, I can take you to the goddesses' temple." Aphrodite explained.

Xena nodded as her, Gabrielle, and Aphrodite disappeared in a flurry of golden sparkles.

Crack "We're here!" Aphrodite said happily as her, Xena and a sleeping, but evidently sick Gabrielle held in Xena's arms arrived at the goddesses' temple.

"It amazes me how you can be in a good mood at a time like this." Xena sneered angrily.

"Well, sweet pea, you can't always have your spirits down or the world wouldn't be worth living in." Aphrodite answered.

Xena smiled at her reply as she lay Gabrielle down at the temple's altar. Then she disarmed her chakram and sword as she prayed, "Goddess of Dreams, please help my friend in need. She needs your powers to help her cure her of awful nightmares."

When Xena finished, the goddess appeared and sat beside Gabrielle. " This girl is in great pain. Why have you brought her to me?"

_Gabrielle! Help me! A man's voice screamed as he stared in shock at the woman above him, ready to kill him with the knife armed in her hands. Gabrielle screamed, then slowly ran forward, grabbed the knife out of the woman's hands, and before she knew what she was doing, she had murdered someone with her own hands._

Blood spewed out of Gabrielle's hands and all over her as tears ran down her face and a deafening scream escaped her deadened throat. "That's why." Xena said.

"There isn't much time…" Aphrodite said as she launched into the explanation.

When she had finished, the goddess turned to Xena and said, "You really care about her" If you do this, you know your risking your life. Die in her nightmares, and die in the real world."

"She would do the same for me, so take me in her nightmares. I have to save my friend." Xena said confidently as tears formed in her eyes, imagining what would happen if she was to fail.

"Be careful Xena…" Aphrodite's voice trailed off as the warrior was taken into Gabrielle's nightmares.


	2. Chapter 2 Blood and Hope

The sound of sword being sheathed echoed throughout the dark world as Xena armed her sword in one hand, then kept her empty hand on her chakram.

"Well, well… looks like Auntie Xena came to stop my little party." An eerie voice sounded throughout the area. "If you want to save your little 'girlfriend', then you must stop me and save her from all her nightmares.

A blinding flash of light, then before Xena could even blink, she was back in the temple of Dahak, only this time…

Blood was everywhere, yet Gabrielle hadn't lost her blood innocence yet. In fact she was heading towards the woman standing over that man lying on the table, speaking in an evil, and almost Hope like voice. Before she even realized it, Xena was running towards Gabrielle, going to stop those horrible chains of events that had all started with Gabrielle killing this woman.

_This is a nightmare world, _Xena thought as she reached for her bard, _things are going to be exaggerated according to Gabrielle._

Blood spewed all over Xena as she grabbed her, but no matter how hard she tried to hold on, Gabrielle kept sliding from her grasp.

"No! I'm not going lose you! It's not going end like this!" Xena screamed. A sly smile stretched across her face as she came across an idea. Reaching for her whip, Xena threw it quickly at Gabrielle. Thankfully this pulled Gabrielle towards her and out of harm's way.

That horrid voice boomed down again as it said, "Alright, warrior, you saved her from the first nightmare, but what about the others?"

Again, that light flashed brightly, and another nightmare appeared before Xena's eyes.

Back in the real world, Aphrodite and the Goddess of Dreams was observing Gabrielle's functions. After about 10 long minutes, her breathing started to slowly returned to normal, and Aphrodite breathed a sigh of relief.

"It looks like she is getting better… I wonder what Xena is doing in her mind?" Aphrodite stated. The Goddess of Dreams could tell by her worried expression that the love goddess cared deeply for Gabrielle.

"If you want, we can observe what is going in the girl's mind, but it probably won't be that pretty. Would like to see what the bard and warrior see?" the Goddess of Dreams informed Aphrodite.

She nodded as a cloud appeared, and Aphrodite cringed as she saw a dark, bloody centaur town in despair as Xena ran to one of the slimy houses. This house in particular had a very depressing thunder cloud over it.

"Solan! I'm coming, this time I'm going to save you!" Xena's shaky voice echoed as the now familiar voice of Hope sounded against it.

"On the contrary Xena, anything you do here doesn't affect life in the reality. I trust you know who I am now?"

Xena's voice snickered as a sneer crossed her blood-stained face. "Of course, I'd know that evil voice anywhere. Your Hope, and now I'm going to kill you."

The awful sound of flesh meeting metal sounded as Xena plunged her sword into young Hope's chest. "Die, you soulless tool of evil!"

The daughter of Dahak cackled her final laugh as Xena plunged her sword out of the monster, and she reappeared Scot-free next to Aphrodite and the Goddess of Dreams.

"Gabrielle, is she okay?" Xena asked worried as Aphrodite ran over to Xena with a big grin on her face.

"She is just fine. Thank you so much for saving her sweet-pea." Aphrodite said, just as Gabrielle raised up, looking at Xena.

"Xena, what happened? By the gods, my head hurts." Gabrielle stammered, putting a hand to her head.

"I'll tell you about it later. For now, we can head back to Aphrodite's temple." Xena smiled, looking at Aphrodite.

"OK, everyone ready to go? Don't forget to thank the Goddess of Dreams!" Aphrodite asked, but the Goddess of Dreams had disappeared back into her temple.

Xena, Gabrielle, and the beautiful Aphrodite joined hands as they disappeared with a flurry of golden light and sparkles.


End file.
